Device for holding negatives.



No. 640,739. Patented Ian. 9, 1900..

C. J. BDUSFIELD.

DEVICE FOR HOLDING NEGATIVES.

(Application filed May 15. 1899) (.No Model.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

CHARLIE J. BOUSFIELD, OF BAY CITY, MIOIIIGAN.

DEVICE FOR HOLDING NEGATIVES.

QPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 640,789, dated January9, 1900.

Application filed May 15, 1899. Serial No. 716,823. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLIE J BoUsFIELn, a citizen of the United States,residing at Bay City, in the county of Bayand State of Michigan, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Photographic-PlateHolders; and I do herebydeclare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Myinvention relates to photographic-plate holders; and the improvementconsists in certain arrangements and combinations of parts of the deviceforming means whereby I accomplish the objects of my invention, whichare, first, to provide a plate-holder that is simple in construction andthat can be manufactured at small cost; second, to provide aplate-holder that will automatically clamp the edge of a plate and holdit securely without slipping; third, to provide a plate-holder that willallow of inspection of all parts of the plate and permit itsmanipulation in the de' veloping-baths without wetting 0r soiling thehands of the operator, and, fourth, to provide means for draining anddrying the plate without liability of injury to the film by dust or dirtlighting upon it. I accomplish these objects by the means illustrated inthe accompanying drawings throughout the several views, of which similarletters and characters of reference designate similar parts and devices.

Figure l is a top view of a plate-holder attached to a photographicplate. Fig. 2 is a side view of the same. Fig. 3 shows the mode ofplacing the plate-holder in position on the plate. Fig. 4 shows a seriesof plates nested for convenience in fixing, washing, or drying. Fig. 5shows a plate with holder attached suspended from a hook for drying,inspection, &c. Fig. 6 shows another position of the device for drainingand drying the plate. Fig. 7 is a detail of the handle formed of asingle piece of wire.

As is plainly shown in the drawings, the invention consists of a frame,preferably formed of German silver, aluminium, or other flexible wirebent into the desired shape.

A A are spring-arms, preferably formed by bending the two ends of asingle piece of wire so as to form horizontal arms having downwardly andinwardly projecting end'portions or hooks B for seizing the edge of aplate. The arms A A are raised above the surface of the plate to avoidinjuring the sensitive film. The middle portion of the wire is twistedto form the upwardly and outwardly projecting handle O, by which theplate is manipulated. A shorter downwardly and inwardly projecting armD, having a hooked end E, is adapted to engage the edge of the plateopposite the hooks B B. The other end of the wire D is preferablyintertwisted with the handle 0 and is thus held in position.

To detach the holder from the plate, the arms A and A are pressedtogether, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. l and also shown in Fig.3, thus releasing the hooked ends of the arms from engagement with theedge of the plate. The arms A A normally tend to spring apart, and thusengage and securely hold the plate against the hooked end E.

V fhile I have shown and described the holder as formed of two pieces ofinter-twisted wire, it could equally well be made of a single piece, theend E being formed by a loop, as is shown in Fig. 7.

By means of this device a negative may be developed, fixed, washed, andthoroughly inspected without danger of soiling the hands of the operatoror injuring the film.

The negatives may be quickly and safely piled or nested in the bathafter the manner indicated in Fig. 401' distributed closely over thesurface of the developing-tray, since there are no projecting parts tointerfere with the neighboring plates. In practice I prefer to attachthe device to the exposed negative in the dark room as soon as it istaken from the plate-holder of the camera and to leave it attached tothe negative until the latter has been put through all the processes ofdeveloping, fixing, washing, and drying. The small projecting ends orhooks B B and E serve to prevent soiling the negative if it is set on atable or other surface, as shown in Fig. 2. In

drying the device may be inverted, as shown in 6, in which position theplate may effectually drain, having the film side underneath, where itis not liable to be injured by particles of dirt or dust settling uponit. The device may also be suspended from a hook by means or a loop inthe handle 0, as is shown in Fig. 5, for convenience in examining thenegative.

What I claim is 1. A holder for photographic plates comprising a handlea short arm projecting below said handle and having a hook for engagingan edge of the plate, two divergent flexible arms attached to saidhandle, each arm having a hook for engaging the edge of the plate andholding it by reason of the tendency of the flexible arms to furtherdiverge.

2. A photographic-plate holder made of flexible wire comprising twoflexible and nor-

